Post by Jean Grey on Jun 2, 2006 7:07:43 GMT -5
Wow a magazine had this to say on spin offs
(usa today)
USA Today has published an update on the various "X-Men" spinoffs in the works, including Wolverine, Magneto, one on the kids and another on Emma Frost. The newspaper's scoop:
The first spinoff will be Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. His character has an as-yet-unrevealed back story in which researchers replaced his original bones with a metal skeleton. Jackman has signed on to star and co-produce, and X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner says it will likely head into production next year.
"We've also talked about doing something on the kids in (Professor X's) school, focusing on their lives, and less of a global adventure for the team," says Hutch Parker, production president of 20th Century Fox.
The studio is also exploring a movie with Three Kings director David O. Russell based on the character of Emma Frost, a sexy mutant telepath who can transform her skin into diamonds. She is an X-Men comics regular but was not featured in the movies.
Another likely solo project: Magneto, also in the script phase. The film will focus on his youthful pre-villain days, Shuler Donner says.
Though it would require a younger actor for those sequences, she says the film would need Ian McKellen to anchor the flashbacks. "What's a Magneto movie without Ian?" she asks.
We'll be following all the projects closely.
ARAD RESIGNS
Becomes Ex-Man at Marvel
In a move that reportedly caught Wall Street off guard, Avi Arad, whom many analysts have called the real superhero of Marvel Entertainment, resigned Wednesday as chairman and CEO of the company's film studio and chief creative officer of the parent company. He will now head his own company, Avi Arad Productions, which will continue to produce films featuring Marvel's superhero characters, including next year's Spider-Man 3. The move comes just days after X-Men: The Last Stand set a Memorial Day record at the box office and on the same day that Arad sold 3.15 million shares in Marvel Entertainment, worth $60 million, that vested last Friday. According to trade reports, some analysts speculated that Arad was leaving the company because he disagreed with its decision to fund several upcoming films on its own through a $525-million debt facility set up by Merrill Lynch. "This is not a ringing endorsement of company strategy," Banc of America analyst Michael Savner told Daily Variety. "He may understand something about the company the street doesn't," said Evan S. Wilson of Pacific Crest Securities in an interview with the New York Post.Marvel's shares tumbled by more than 5 percent on the news Wednesday.